Photographer Captures An Ultra Rare Shot Of Sperm Whales Sleeping

Photographer Captures An Ultra Rare Shot Of Sperm Whales Sleeping

Ever wondered how whales sleep? Up until about ten years or so, the subject was almost a total mystery. No one could be sure how these gentle giants caught shut eye.

But now, thanks to photographer Franco Banfi and a team of scuba divers, we have these photos that show exactly what the phenomenon looks like.

The group was following a pod of whales in the Caribbean Sea, near Dominica Island when the creatures suddenly decided to take a synchronised, vertical nap. That was when Banfi was able to catch this ultra rare shot.

Little was known about whale sleep until 2008. That was the year a group of biologists from the UK and Japan stumbled upon a pod of sleeping sperm whales. The team studied the whales and learned that this kind of group napping fills about 7% of a whale’s life, typically lasting between 6 and 24 minutes per session.